Traditional Archery Discussions on the Leatherwall


Effectiveness of lightweight Paul Bunyan

Messages posted to thread:
pdk25 03-Feb-25
JHPope 03-Feb-25
JHPope 03-Feb-25
JHPope 03-Feb-25
Wayne Hess 03-Feb-25
Don T. Lewis 03-Feb-25
Tradslinger 03-Feb-25
Ryan Rothhaar 03-Feb-25
Supernaut 03-Feb-25
joe vt 03-Feb-25
pdk25 03-Feb-25
Jason316 04-Feb-25
fdp 04-Feb-25
Tradslinger 04-Feb-25
Slick 04-Feb-25
bugsy 49 04-Feb-25
pdk25 04-Feb-25
pdk25 04-Feb-25
pdk25 04-Feb-25
pdk25 04-Feb-25
pdk25 04-Feb-25
pdk25 04-Feb-25
pdk25 04-Feb-25
longbow1968 04-Feb-25
pdk25 04-Feb-25
Wayne Hess 04-Feb-25
Corax_latrans 04-Feb-25
smrobertson 04-Feb-25
pdk25 04-Feb-25
Wayne Hess 04-Feb-25
Krag 04-Feb-25
Don T. Lewis 04-Feb-25
Don T. Lewis 04-Feb-25
Don T. Lewis 04-Feb-25
pdk25 04-Feb-25
bugsy 49 04-Feb-25
pdk25 04-Feb-25
Ricky The Cabel Guy 05-Feb-25
RonG 05-Feb-25
Ricky The Cabel Guy 05-Feb-25
JBM 06-Feb-25
JBM 06-Feb-25
buster v davenport 06-Feb-25
Don T. Lewis 06-Feb-25
buster v davenport 06-Feb-25
pdk25 07-Feb-25
Andy Man 07-Feb-25
buster v davenport 07-Feb-25
Basinboy 07-Feb-25
Basinboy 07-Feb-25
From: pdk25
Date: 03-Feb-25




I have some pictures to post, but got frustrated trying to resize the pictures, so for now I will just give some info from the last 2 weeks.

I Spent 5 days hunting near Laredo, then another 5 days in North Texas, and was able to give my lightweight Paul Bunyan Takedown a little activity.

This bow is 38# @ 28", 40# @ 29", and 43#@ 30". I draw the bow around 29" LH, and 30" RH, but was only shooting it LH for this trip.

I had 2 pass throughs on Javelina as expected near Laredo. During this trip I killed around a 150# boar and had full penetration with around 14" of shaft and broadhead poking out the far side. I also had a delayed pass through on a slightly smaller hog in north Texas, likely just under 150#, with the arrow falling out 5 yards after impact.

The only issue came on a very large boar, that was maybe 275-300#. The largest that I have personally seen in South Texas.

Shooting lefthanded, I I was on the cusp of being too stiff with 600 spine shafts and 300 grain tips. During my stalk, a raccoon spotted me and the boar ran off a small ways. When he came back in range (6 yards) he was very spooky and I rushed the shot, not getting to full draw. Maybe 28". This caused the arrow to kick off the shelf. Even though it impacted in the right spot, I could tell that it impacted at a significant angle. This combined with diminished draw weight gave very poor penetration. The hog was seen without the arrow the next day on camera with no ill effects. I truly believe that if I had done my part, it would have been enough to kill this beast. In any case, just wanted to share some details for anyone considering hunting with these great vintage bows.

From: JHPope
Date: 03-Feb-25




Enjoyed reading your report. I had a 2 piece solid fiberglass bow way baqk in my youth. Can't remember what happened to that bow, but really wish I still had it.

From: JHPope
Date: 03-Feb-25




Enjoyed reading your report. I had a 2 piece solid fiberglass bow way baqk in my youth. Can't remember what happened to that bow, but really wish I still had it.

From: JHPope
Date: 03-Feb-25




Sorry for the hiccup

From: Wayne Hess
Date: 03-Feb-25




Interesting, and good hunting

From: Don T. Lewis
Date: 03-Feb-25




Pat I really enjoy reading your posts on all your Paul Bunyan reviews. Because I know your talking about real hands on Experience. You’re not one of those key board jockeys. Or one of those Green Paul Bunyan haters. Those old fiberglass bows are a big part of our history. And got a lot of guys into hunting back in the day. Because they were very reasonable price wise. You have showed us time after time what a hunting weight and now light weight Paul Bunyan can do. I for one really enjoy your no B.S. approach. Thanks for always sharing your results with us open minded bow benders. Shoot straight and stay safe.

From: Tradslinger
Date: 03-Feb-25




Those old solid fiberglass bows were a god send to people/ young people like me. I saw then as a for real weapon for hunting, far better than anything that I had made. I believe mine were mostly made by Pearson. Totally nothing wrong with hunting with them in my eyes. Enjoyed the post, wish that you had better luck with the resizing. It just proves what a lot of us already know about those bows.

From: Ryan Rothhaar Professional Bowhunters Society - Qualified Member Compton's Traditional Bowhunters
Date: 03-Feb-25




That’s cool, Pat, using bows like that! Off topic, but did you hurt yourself or are you just trying something different with the light bows?

R

From: Supernaut
Date: 03-Feb-25




Congrats on the success Pat and thanks for sharing your honest experience with the Bunyan bow.

From: joe vt
Date: 03-Feb-25




Very cool!!! I am intrigued by these all fiberglass bows. I have a old one that is kinda short and has a 30# weight.

From: pdk25
Date: 03-Feb-25




Ryan, I had 2 shoulder surgeries last year to deal with a bad AC joint. The first in February got botched and made me worse than before. As soon as I got back from my moose hunt in September I had surgery on October 7th to fix it. I was shooting this bow the day after surgery, lol. I can shoot my normal weight bows now, but can only draw around 75# with each hand, and don’t have the strength to control anything over 70 yet. It will come, just taking some time. I shot a hog with my moose bow on this trip too, but wanted to see what this bow could do. I already knew that any of my Paul Bunyans over 50@30 can take anything in North America, even if it isn’t necessarily what would be my first choice.

From: Jason316 Professional Bowhunters Society - Associate Member
Date: 04-Feb-25




Awesome read. I love hearing about PB's getting some work time in. I've been too busy with life, my 3 have just been collecting dust. I did get the 300 out the other day about a month ago. But not in a hunting capacity. I found some hogs frequenting our ranch in N TX that I may try and make something happen with one of them. You've provided some inspiration. But not shooting left handed. lol. That's way out of my league!

From: fdp
Date: 04-Feb-25




That is very good information I think that lots of times there is too much importance put on the the bow being shot and not enough of how lethal a sharp well placed broadhead is even when traveling at moderate speed.

From: Tradslinger
Date: 04-Feb-25




I agree Frank, the bow is a tool, can be very simple or very complicated. I remembering slobbering over the solid fiberglass bow that belonged to my father who was in Nam at the time. He had a quiver with wooden arrows and stamped broadheads. I found it buried in the shed, took them rabbit hunting that day. Missed a rabbit at 5 yards in the briars, never found that arrow lol. All I saw was a deer killing machine. Some may look down on them, but they do so out of pridefulness. There is no telling how much game has been taken with them

From: Slick
Date: 04-Feb-25




Good reading Pat,fdp so true.

From: bugsy 49
Date: 04-Feb-25




I have a 45lb. Paul Bunyon glass bow that chronies a 450 gr. arrow at 145 fps with my short draw. I have no idea how it would work for hog hunting, but I do know for sure how it works on white tail.

From: pdk25
Date: 04-Feb-25




From: pdk25
Date: 04-Feb-25

pdk25's embedded Photo



The big hog that I choked on

From: pdk25
Date: 04-Feb-25

pdk25's embedded Photo



The big hog that I choked on

From: pdk25
Date: 04-Feb-25

pdk25's embedded Photo



The 2 Javelina

From: pdk25
Date: 04-Feb-25

pdk25's embedded Photo



The 2 Javelina

From: pdk25
Date: 04-Feb-25

pdk25's embedded Photo



The two hogs that I killed with the Paul Bunyan. The lighter colored hog was recovered the next morning, so the picture is with my Talltines stickling.

From: pdk25
Date: 04-Feb-25

pdk25's embedded Photo



The two hogs that I killed with the Paul Bunyan. The lighter colored hog was recovered the next morning, so the picture is with my Talltines stickling.

From: longbow1968
Date: 04-Feb-25




Nice report. What broad head did you go with, if I may ask?

From: pdk25
Date: 04-Feb-25




I used Ace Super Express vented for the Javelina and Ace Express for the hogs.

From: Wayne Hess
Date: 04-Feb-25




What is the pipe lying on the ground in front of pig in second picture, Sharp broad heads and good shooting gets it done, Nice pdk

From: Corax_latrans
Date: 04-Feb-25




“The big hog that I choked on”

Try taking smaller bites.

;)

JMO, your results show the effectiveness of a well-tuned arrow, flying point-on, vs. a poorly tuned arrow striking before it has achieved settled flight.

Physics doesn’t care how much you spent on your bow, and all the FOC in the world won’t save you if your arrow strikes off kilter. It’s not Hard.

Glad you’re still shooting, and my best for your continued healing.

From: smrobertson
Date: 04-Feb-25




I've had several Paul Bunyan 100's. IMO best fiberglass bow made. I had two 50 pounders and a 60lber. I put D97 strings on them. They shot very good. Just be careful that the "bow tips" don't have any cracks or splits.

From: pdk25
Date: 04-Feb-25




Wayne, that was a pvc pipe that had holes in it and was filled with corn. Hogs didn’t care to use it and I gave it to some fine gentleman from Arkansas after the trip.

From: Wayne Hess
Date: 04-Feb-25




Thanks pdk that’s what I thought, maybe some sour mash in it , hog licker

From: Krag
Date: 04-Feb-25




Nice story and pictures. What was total arrow weight?

From: Don T. Lewis
Date: 04-Feb-25




Pat maybe you should write a book called. Hunting the vintage fiberglass bow. Just a thought:)

From: Don T. Lewis
Date: 04-Feb-25




Pat maybe you should write a book called. Hunting the vintage fiberglass bow. Just a thought:)

From: Don T. Lewis
Date: 04-Feb-25




Pat maybe you should write a book called. Hunting the vintage fiberglass bow. Just a thought:)

From: pdk25
Date: 04-Feb-25




Gotta learn to write first, lol.

I wanna say the total arrrow weight was around 625 grains, but will have to check on that to be sure.

From: bugsy 49
Date: 04-Feb-25




Did you chrony that bow with that arrow?

From: pdk25
Date: 04-Feb-25




I did not chrono it, but it was the slowest that I have ever shot, lol.

From: Ricky The Cabel Guy
Date: 05-Feb-25




Good stuff pdk25.

My first deer was taken with a 45 @ 28 solid glass Brown Bear that I was probably only getting 40-42 lbs out of it...lol.

Just goes to show you that anyone who doesn't think these solid glass bows are capable just wasn't around when they were popular.

From: RonG
Date: 05-Feb-25




People put too much into the bow, it's a combination of a lot of things. Glad to see you using Ace broadheads that is fitting for that old bow. Ace was all I ever used, never liked the weird broadheads that came out claiming what they could do. I still have some of the stamped out Aces.

Thanks for taking us along, living in Florida most my 78 years I have a lot of hog and fish hunting under my belt. Piggys do spook easy.

By the way those fiberglass bows probably took more fish than land animals, they were perfect for that.

From: Ricky The Cabel Guy
Date: 05-Feb-25




"By the way those fiberglass bows probably took more fish than land animals, they were perfect for that."

Not to mention hundreds of bullfrogs, chipmunks, and squirrels...just by mine alone. Good times.

From: JBM
Date: 06-Feb-25




Do I "remember" correctly that Howard Hill used a PAUL BUNYON when He was around 15 for his first bow kill? Seems? That He got SO excited that He ran back home and LEFT the bow behind?

From: JBM
Date: 06-Feb-25




Do I "remember" correctly that Howard Hill used a PAUL BUNYON when He was around 15 for his first bow kill? Seems? That He got SO excited that He ran back home and LEFT the bow behind?

From: buster v davenport
Date: 06-Feb-25




The Paul Bunyan bows were made in th '50s -'60s. The company started in 1939 making fishing tackle. H H was 50 or 51 in 1950. bvd

From: Don T. Lewis
Date: 06-Feb-25




Great post!:)

From: buster v davenport
Date: 06-Feb-25




Type in---Dual shelved ambidextrous bows: The Paul Bunyan archery company. There is a bunch of info on the various P B bows. Some of it is from one of Edmund H Burke's book from 1954. Some of you guys have that book. bvd

From: pdk25
Date: 07-Feb-25




https://dualshelfshooters.blogspot.com/2014/?m=1

I suspect this is the page you are referring to.

From: Andy Man
Date: 07-Feb-25




Just FYI

back when I was 10 years old I had an all fiberglass recurve from K mart or some place like that and it was 25# at what ever and being 10- I probably did not get to what ever

close shot but I killed a 7 point with it and a homade arrow my mother helped me put together

I can still remember seeing the deer go down in sight- and had to get the farmer to get it cause I was too small to move it

don't take much

From: buster v davenport
Date: 07-Feb-25




Patrick, the article that I am referring to is by Larry Vienneau and contains info from Edmund H Burke's Archery Handbook. bvd

From: Basinboy
Date: 07-Feb-25




You always get it done! Congrats Buddy!

From: Basinboy
Date: 07-Feb-25




You always get it done! Congrats Buddy!





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